Saint Irene - so close now

Hot.. So so hot..

Although we have gotten into a groove and are ( mostly) ready to walk by 7.30, its days like today, I wished the kids could get out of bed earlier and thatvwe are out of the beating sun by midday, instead of still walking at 3 and 4 pm. Its a subject of a whole new post - this camino being 'not mine' but 'ours' and going withbthe flow.. I digress..

We were blessed to have forest walks and some shade, but the heat saps all will and any enthusiasm you may have. Nothing however can hide the km as you trudge along and just wish you see the town name coming up on the GPS. ( I love my iphone and all its apps)

Photos from today..

The shells showing 'the way' are different in every town. So glad to see them, especially when tired. 

My food addiction here. Empanda. Its normally tuna, but I have found it can contain ( and not excluding) things that baa, moo, cluck and possibly croak.

Lots of caramelised onion, roasted tomato and capsicum and meat/ fish, wrapped in crusty buttery pastery.. Mmmmmm.. Serve it in rustic giant slabs..

Lots of breaks today. I have never drunk so much beer!! Well, lemon softdrink snd beer.

Yes.. We drink alot of water too.

Our completely amazing Albergue from today. A very old farmhouse converted to accomodate about 24 people. Ohhhh it had sheets... And towels! The photo below is what would have been the stables. There was a loft, where the kids slept.

A little reading nook and the well.

Lilly in her bed in the loft.

The well ( with wooden lid) and bucket to draw water. 

Leading out to the cool garden. Such a peaceful place. 

Found - Adrians Tags

About a week ago , just out of Portmarin after the 88 km mark, Morgan lost the dog tags he has been carrying for Age.

To say he was devastated and upset would be the understatement of the world.

I blogged last night that a Portugese guy contacted me via email to say he had found them ( I am so glad I am so visible on the internet!) We had planned to meet up in Santiago during the week next week.. but that was not to be.

A per my normal morning ritual - so that I don't gt stressed out that the kids are not ready and packed in the mornings as the aught to be... I go and have a coffee in a bar nearby and allow them to get themselves up. It works alot better for my stress than to lose my mind at them every day... but I digress.

Here I am, sitting at a bar, as one does, facing the street - where Pilgrims pass by on their way to Santiago; and I notice a guy with a walking pole. He is joined by a group and they are very obviously a walking group. I think "hmm wouldn't that be funny if that was Jose?"... and it was. .he walked up to me and asked me if I were Annie.. we laughed and cried, hugged and shouted.

The entire group came over and we had photos taken. he reverently gave me back the tags; and I'm not too ashamed to say I cried - ALOT.

Every parents nightmare- losing your kid in a foreign country

Have you seen this boy?

"Cooooooooeeeeeeeee"

Anyone going through Boente today was shown a picture of Morgan and asked if they'd seen him behind, or if they see him in front to tell him to stop and wait for us.

I need to say right now that we have proceedures in place for when 'something' goes wrong, and that Morgan is a sensible kid. He also had a phone ( albeit only connected when there is wifi) and enough money/ resources to get him a plane ticket back to Australia... Though I had his passport. But I knew he wouldn't starve and could get hold of someone... So on that front not concerned.

Todays start was a little stressful to say the least. 

I won 't go into the traumas of mornings with Lilly who, after 49 days of walking still struggles with the concept of having everything ready and packed in the bag, so mornings are easy...... 

Suffice to say, I was losing my calm, so Morgan, who had been dressed and ready for ages, left the room and went downstairs to where I presumed he would wait in the bar.

When Lilly and I got there, the bar, and outside benches were empty. The barman shrugged and pointed at the door; so again, I assumed Morgan had put  his music on and started walking. He knew we had a lot of ground to cover today and that it was going to get really hot, so we were keen to get miles under our boots. 

We were a good ten mins behind him, so we walked as quickly as we could. After half an hour of walking and no sign of him, Lilly and I had to agree that we were not likely to catch him if he has his groove on. We also had to come to the realisation that he may have stayed behind, or gone down the wrong track.  Though the last one was unlikely, given that the track was very well signposted, it had still to be a possibility. One I didn't want to think about was that he may have been kidnapped or taken.

It was a real insight into the collective mind of pilgrims and the blessings we continue to receive.

We stood for about an hour on a bend, cooing for Morgan and asking people if they had seen him. Alot of the pilgrims were folk we had bumped into along the trek at some point or another. Most people promised to look out for him. There were only a few who refused to acknowledge us (I understand if they didn't speak English - I did ask before I went into my request) and one in perfect English told me to go away and not bother her.  I guess she was in the zone.

Our phones were not in a service area - given the mountainous terrain - and I know as soon as we got into a place that had a cafe, that Morgan would have left messages on facebook or imessage for us.

It was a hard decision whether to go forward to where a cafe or bar may be and try to contact him, or to go back to the bar we were in for breakfast and contact him there.

I finally decided to go back as I knew there was internet within 40 mins walk and was unsure where the next bar was ahead.

I was very proud of Morgan; given the stressful situation he was in. For reasons unknown, he had gone downstairs and sat around the corner - one that was not in the main thoroughfare. After waiting for us, he followed our procedure and stayed put. After a certain amount of time, and he had messaged us with no reply; he messaged and called Michael in Australia.

I am so thankful and grateful for Michaels presence. He dropped everything ( he was at work) and kept Morgan on the phone, calming him and making sure he was ok.  On the verge of him calling the police in Spain, we walked in.

It was  a pretty tearful reunion on all parts and I remain grateful for Michael and Morgan following our procedures.